The Future is Young

Why this book

Chapter 3 — The decade’s new currencies: data, talent, learning

Data is not the new oil, it is the new air. We breathe, generate and consume data through every step we take, and every interaction we participate in. Our societies, our organizations (private and public) are undergoing accelerating processes of digital transformation, in which value is created and shared in ways that were unconceivable just a few decades ago. This often feeds opinions that regard technology as the key driver of change. This view is fundamentally flawed: never before today has the human component of our actions and strategies been more crucial, and more vital to our future. Once we acknowledge that fact, we realize how important talent and education are, and why younger generations are the key engine that will guide us closer to a humanly desirable and sustainable future. Chapter 4 — Overcoming fears As problems become more global, they also prove more complex, sometimes to the point of appearing intractable. Concerns about the future quickly become fears about the future. Covid has raised new fears about our collective ability to face the massive and sudden challenges of a pandemic. But, a long time before Covid struck, other types of fears had already clouded our intellectual horizons, including environmental fears, and the fear that growing inequalities would soon become unbearable. More recently, fears about a possible global armed conflict have been reignited. Fear can be a source of energy, when it triggers a wake-up call. Most of the time, however, fear is a blocking factor that freezes our brains, inhibits our energies, and obscures our judgement. Our ability to act and to address the issues of our times requires that we should first shake out our fears, and start to put all of our abilities and available tools at the service of shaping the future that we want. This includes thinking and acting on the future of work, the future of education, and possibly the future of democracy. Such efforts are all the more daunting given that we

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